InfoJustice Roundup – November 20, 2018

A Treaty on Copyright Exceptions and Limitations for Educational and Research Activities (TERA)

[Sean Flynn and Jonathan Band] 39 education and research organizations, including the 30 million members of Education International, are calling upon the World Intellectual Property Organization to adopt a Treaty on Copyright Exceptions and Limitations for Educational and Research Activities (TERA). TERA is open for endorsement by organizations and individuals. The Treaty was adopted at the Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest on September 27, 2018, and released in revised form this week.  It is the result of extensive consultation with numerous Member States and stakeholders in the education and research field, including at multiple workshops around the world. Click here for more.

See also: Hugues Plessis for the Wikimedia Foundation. We’re endorsing a proposed copyright treaty that adds educational and research exceptions. Here’s why. Link.

MPP-Abbvie License on Glecaprevir and Pibrentasvir (G/P): Backtracking on Geographic Coverage But With Options for Oppositions, Compulsory Licenses, and Negotiated Territorial Expansion

[Brook baker] AbbVie and the Medicines Patent Pool have negotiated a royalty-free licensing and sublicensing agreement on a priority hepatitis C direct acting antiviral, glecaprevir and pibrentasvir (G/P).  This G/P combo is recommended by the WHO as a pan-genotypic adult first-line regimen with ongoing Phase 3 trials for adolescents and children.  G/P has a high resistance barrier and the shortest treatment duration of any HCV regimen to date. Click here for more.

SANEF Celebrates the Inclusion of the “Fair Use” Principle in the Copyright Amendment Bill

[South African National Editors Forum] SANEF celebrates the unanimous decision taken yesterday by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry to include the principle of “fair use” in the Copyright Amendment Bill. The principle of “fair use” allows for the use of copyrighted material for a limited or “transformative” purpose such as to quote the latter or use pictures and video material in news reports, comment on, parody or criticise copyrighted work. Click here for more.

See also:  Thabiso Bhengu for the DailyVox. Decolonised Education Means Giving Poor Students Fair Use Of Textbooks. Link

Release: Khanna, Sanders to Introduce Legislation to Drastically Lower Prescription Drug Prices

[Office of Rep. Ro Khanna, press release] At a time when one in five American adults cannot afford to get the prescription medication they need, U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.)  and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced they will introduce the Prescription Drug Price Relief Act at the start of the new Congress to significantly reduce prescription drug prices for Americans. This bill would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make sure that Americans don’t pay more for prescription drugs than the median price in five major countries: Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan. If pharmaceutical manufacturers refuse to lower drug prices below that level, the federal government would approve cheaper generic versions of those drugs, regardless of any patents or market exclusivities in place. Click here for the full press release.\

Ciencia abierta y conocimiento libre para un futuro incluyente y justo

[Alex Argüelles] Especialistas y activistas de la cultura libre en América Latina y El Caribe están buscando nuevas maneras de incidir en las políticas públicas ligadas al acceso a la cultura en todas sus variantes. A través de una declaración producida colectivamente, buscan establecer un referente para el avance de la región en torno a la ciencia abierta. Click here for more.

Democratising Knowledge: A Report on the Scholarly Publisher, Elsevier

[Jonathan Tennant] Executive Summary: Elsevier are the largest and most powerful scholarly publisher, a status achieved through a long history of mergers and acquisitions and rigorously capitalistic business practices. The core issues surrounding Elsevier are that it operates its business primarily through charging for what should be public knowledge and education, with aggressive pricing strategies and marketing tactics that are anti-competitive and a drain on the higher and further education sectors. It has a long history of fighting against public access to knowledge, through a combination of political lobbying, public campaigns against openness, and regressive business models and strategies. Click here for more.